She Said Yes
by cassikat
Summary: Donna's warm heart wouldn't let the Doctor get away without helping him grieve for losing Rose. Then she exercised the privilege of women everywhere - changing her mind. S3 rewrite with Donna and Martha.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I'd be famous and stuff. Especially for turning Doctor Who into a post-watershed show. ;D

Author's notes: This is my NaNo 2011 project, and I'm finally getting around to cleaning it up and expanding it. tkel_paris held my hand through most of November 2011, as I'd never done NaNo before, so much love to you, sweetie! And even more love for helping me find a title for this one! *mwah!* Oh yeah, and beta-reader love too :DDDDD

While I've heard that most rewrites of S3 with X character (usually Rose) make Martha nothing more than a cheerleader for the preferred ship, I do hope that I've managed to do something different. Although, even hints at any sort of ship aren't going to happen for ages. It's a long and interesting trip we're taking, and I'll try and stay a few chapters ahead of it. :)

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Chapter 1: Tentative Overtures

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"That friend of yours...what was her name?" Donna asked, not quite sure why, but it felt like a pivotal moment was approaching. Weird, she'd never in her life felt that anything important would hinge on a question and it's answer...but she sure did now.

The Doctor's face was a picture of sorrow, and he had to talk around a lump in his throat. "Her name was Rose." He made to duck back into the TARDIS and close the door, but suddenly Donna's hand was holding the door open, and she was giving him _such_ a sympathetic look...he was so struck by it that he didn't even argue when Donna stepped inside and hugged him tightly.

"And you haven't even had a chance to properly grieve, have you?" she asked in a soft murmur. "No, course not - I showed up in your ship and shouted at you, slapped you, and then we had that whole horrible time with the spiders and whatnot. Look," she said, letting him go just as he'd gotten relaxed enough to think about hugging her back. "We've both had a hell of a day. Can you, oh, I dunno, bookmark this time and place and take us somewhere so we can both have a good cry with a friendly shoulder?" She smiled wanly and shrugged with one shoulder. "Or at least, for me, someone who doesn't need all this explained before I can have my cry?"

He sniffed and gave her a watery smile. "Bookmark...I like that. Yeah, I can put us into temporal orbit...we'll come right back to oh, maybe five minutes from now, but we could spend days away if we wanted."

"Well all right then, skinny boy. Get us into this temporary orbit thingy already. I may not change my mind about coming with you, but I'm not going to send you away to miss your friend on your own." Donna smirked a bit, wondering if he'd catch that she'd made a 'mistake' on purpose.

"Temporal, Donna, not temporary..." He trailed off and eyed her, and that little smirk on her lips cued him in. "You did that on purpose!"

"You better believe it, Spaceman. Now get on with it, or shall I just drag you inside the house and throw you in the spare room for your breakdown?"

"I'm not going to break down, Donna. No need for the spare room..." He trailed off, shuddering as he imagined what Donna's mother would do if she just dragged him in the house like that. Donna already slapped harder than Jackie ever did, and he didn't want to find out first-hand how hard her mother could slap.

"Honestly, you are such a bloke." She rolled her eyes and wandered over as he finished doing something to the console. "So, we in orbit now?"

"We are now," he said as he pushed one last button then threw a lever. The column in the centre of the console was moving lazily up and down, and the ship itself was humming softly. "And I am not a bloke."

"Yeah you are," she murmured and pulled him over to the jumpseat, wrapping her arm around him as he gave into gravity and her tug to fall and join her. "No bloke ever wants to let his feelings out, but if you keep everything bottled up, you'll explode." Donna snorted, very softly, and rubbed circles on the Doctor's back. "And with everything I've seen you do today, it'd be a thousand times worse than a normal bloke's explosion. So c'mere and let go. It's all right, you're safe, I'll never tell a soul, promise, just let it all out..."

For a little while the Doctor simply sat there in silence, wrapped in Donna's arms and letting her murmurs fill his ears while he pondered everything he knew about her so far. He'd only invited her because he was so desperately lonely, and something within her had resonated with that. And yet here she was, showing yet again how strong and compassionate she could be...putting aside her own pain and grief over being betrayed and horribly used by her fiance to comfort a stranger. Comfort him, who never really had anyone hold him like this...she was magnificent already, and if he tried to tell her so, she'd laugh it off. The TARDIS liked her too, although he thought it might have had something to do with how she'd joined them in the first place...

He sighed, and stiffened in Donna's hold at the obvious tremor in it, only relaxing at the TARDIS' reassuring humming and gentle nudge. _ Let go, my Thief. Let it __**all**__ go - this one is strong enough to handle it all._ And so he did. At first, just a few tears and shaky breaths, but before he knew it he was full-out sobbing on Donna's shoulder, and choking out words in between the gulps and pained moans of grieving; of how much Rose had meant to him, how she'd saved him from the darkness that had developed during the Time War...and of having to destroy his own people.

And then he found himself sobbing anew, just when he thought he was done with tears, and all because of a barely-caught question...it was probably something Donna hadn't said aloud, that he'd picked up from touching her with his guard down. But between the agonised keening and new sobs, he managed to choke out what had happened, what and why of the Time War, and that he'd ended it. Not everything of course...but the basics were bad enough. Especially the ending...and he hoped he wouldn't find her even more terrified and ready to run out the door - she was warm, and smelled good, and it felt so good to let someone else be strong for a few minutes...

Down to snuffles finally, he rested against the warmth and sighed, waiting for condemnation. Instead he got a mostly Donna-scented, somewhat damp, handkerchief pulled from her cleavage that she used to mop his face.

"I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared to death that things can and do and have happened that are so horrible and dangerous. But..." Donna trailed off and sighed, then held the hanky to his nose. "Blow. You were in a war...and war does horrible things to everyone, even the bystanders. Which, from the sound of it, you weren't - you were in the thick of things."

She sighed and shook her head. "And I know my opinion doesn't really count...but the entire universe was at stake. You did the only thing you could think of to save it. And, I'm guessing, saved so many trillions of lives that it's ridiculous to even try and count them along with it."

"Donna," the Doctor rasped hoarsely after he blew into the hanky, "I destroyed my own people. _I'm_ the reason I'm the last Time Lord-" He was silenced by a firm finger pressed against his lips.

"Hush. Yeah, you destroyed your own people...and their enemies. God, I can't even imagine whether I _could_ do the same, if it was my choice. And yeah, you've suffered and you're going to suffer, because it was your hand saved the universe by double-genocide. And I'm sorrier than I can manage to say for everything you lost in making that call...the magnitude of which still boggles me. But you don't have to walk around keeping that horrible burden all to yourself anymore while you roam around the universe."

Somehow, during all of his babbling while he mourned, she'd made a decision, and it was the easiest thing in the world in the end. Scariest too, but she'd deal with that later. "You've got me to help you with your crises of conscience...and with the nightmares too, if you want. For as long as you want me around."

He blinked his sore eyes at her, lashes starred together by tears, which made him look even younger than he already did. "You...you changed your mind then? Don't I still frighten you?"

"Terrify me even more now, Time boy. But..." She sighed and shrugged. "You need someone to stop you, like I said earlier. But alongside that, you also need someone to be your friend, someone to hold your hand. Someone to listen to you and be your shoulder to cry on when you're down, and laugh with you when you're up. So...as long as you can put up with a rude, loud, obnoxious, slightly overweight temp, I guess I can be that person. Donna smiled wistfully and folded her hands in her lap, looking down in sudden doubt. "That is, if the invitation's still open?"

_I like her,_ he heard the TARDIS say through his surprise. _She's good for you. And braver than she thinks. Much stronger too. Keep her? Please?_

"Well, of course it is," He gave her a crooked smile and hugged her in thanks. "Not like I could say no now that you've let me get you all wet and accepted my darkest secrets."

"Like draining the Thames didn't do that," She snickered suddenly at the thought of the colours he might turn if she pointed out the double entendre he'd just made, then shook her head. "Go wash your face, then let's get back and face the music. Can't just go running off without telling the family what I'm doing."

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p' for the first time in a long time. "Your turn now. I may be an idiot about a lot of things, but I do know fair. And it's not fair for me to have a cry on you and not give you the same chance."

"But...but I...I..." Donna pressed her hand to her mouth, trying to fight back the sudden upsurge of tears of her own - she wasn't anything important, not really, just a temp, even though she'd just gone completely bonkers and volunteered to be a mad alien's friend and conscience and confidante. Why was he being so considerate? Surely not just because fair was fair? "Why?"

"Why? Because, Donna Noble," the Doctor said, taking his turn to be the comforter by pulling her into a hug with her head resting on his shoulder. "Because you've been hurt so much today, and you still put your pain aside to help a virtual stranger, and somewhere found the strength to help carry frighteningly immense burdens. And because, in your own words, if you keep it all bottled up, you'll explode." He laughed softly, the puffs of air tickling her ear. "And you exploding is almost as scary a thought as me going boom - you've got a mean right hand, you know. Now just let it go. Cry it out, then we'll both wash our faces and I'll brave your scary family."

"I'll show you that right hand again if you don't stop it, Spaceman," she sniffed hard, and tried to hold it all back. But just as she'd done for the Doctor, he was doing for her now, plus he was finger-combing her damp hair and removing the tangles, and the fact that someone actually cared enough to want to comfort her, much less reciprocate anything she'd done was enough to crack her control, and it all eventually came pouring out through tears and choking sobs. Falling for Lance, and everything she'd given up for him, and how hurt and betrayed she was, and even some of her own self-doubts. As well, how horrible it was that she had to be a loud obnoxious person to even get noticed for anything other than her size and hair...

Eventually, just as his had before, her tears finally quit falling, and she pulled away from the Doctor. "Sorry, I don't...don't-"

"Hush," he said and handed her a handkerchief from one of his pockets. "You needed to let it all out - following your own advice, y'know - and we'll not say any more about any of it, if it makes you feel better."

"Don't you mean if it makes _you_ feel better, Martian?" She sniffed hard, then wiped her face dry with the cotton square, then blew her nose heartily before balling it up and handing it back. "Here. I'm sure your ship has laundry service. Otherwise hang onto it for me and I'll wash it out later."

"No, pretty sure I meant what I said. And I'm really not a Martian," He grinned, the first one in quite a while, and nodded. "The TARDIS does have laundry service," he said, and shoved both used handkerchiefs into one of his pockets, and smiled a bit as he felt the TARDIS winkle them away to the laundry room. "Comes in handy, especially when one's been trudging miles through slimy mud."

Oh, how Rose had complained about that mud...and he was startled at how different thinking of her was now. Surely one good cry couldn't ease the knife-stab pain of losing her like that so thoroughly? Or was it just that he could relax in the care of his new companion and miss Rose without the extra pains and fears of losing the security of not being alone?

"I know that." Donna very maturely stuck her tongue out at him, then frowned a bit. "That happen often, then? Trudging through mud?" Donna raised an eyebrow at him as he started off deeper into the TARDIS. "Oi! Where are you wandering off to now?"

"Can do," he shrugged as he turned around a few paces into the hall. "Sometimes it's different goop, depends on the planet and the weather. But it's all effectively mud in the end. Oh, and I'm off to wash my face...unless you thought there was only one room to my wonderful ship?"

"You peanut. C'mon, show me that washroom and then we can go reassure Mum and Dad and get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Huh. You know something? So am I." He smiled brightly at his new ginger companion and offered his hand. "Well then, washroom this way."

"What, no 'Charge', no 'Excelsior?' No 'for God, Harry and King George?'" She took his hand and asked, curious because she'd really expected him to say something to get them moving, not just offer his hand.

"Well, I suppose I could always say 'allons-y'. That's French, you know...and ooh, wouldn't it be brilliant if I met someone named Alonzo! Then I could say 'Allons-y, Alonzo!' So, Donna Noble, Christmas dinner awaits clean faces - allons-y!"

"You are -such- a nutter!" She laughed and let him tug her down the hall. "And I knew it was French."

"Oh? And what other languages do you know, then?" He opened a door in the hall with a flourish to reveal a two-basined washroom vanity, with a toilet tastefully tucked behind it's own little door.

"Spanish, French, German, some Hindi, what school Latin I haven't forgotten." She laughed and twisted the tap of the sink in front of her, then held a washcloth under the flow. "Knowing languages is a big bonus if you want to be a really good temp, and I'm the best in Chiswick. Wanted to learn Welsh cos it's so pretty to listen to, but I never could get a job in Wales to learn it by immersion, and no one in England would want to teach it."

"Not bad," the Doctor murmured with a raised eyebrow as he saw to his own ablutions. "But that reminds me about something I need to tell you about the TARDIS. She's a living ship, you see, and a bit telepathic too. Since you're going to travel with me, she'll be getting into your head...pretty much just enough to translate languages for you. Um...you don't mind that, do you?"

"She wot?" The indignant reply was muffled by the facecloth, which was dropped into the basin as Donna turned on him in a huff. "She's reading my mind?!"

"No! No, no, no, no, no, not actually reading your mind! It's like...have you ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? The Babel fish? It can't read your mind, but it can translate any language into something you'll understand. Now, the Old Girl's a lot better than some manky old fish in your ear, but it's the same principle. No active mind reading, just automatic translation."

"Oh." Donna thought about that for a minute or two, then patted the vanity top, just in case she'd offended the ship. And wasn't that going to take getting used to - a living time-space ship? "Sorry about flipping out...I just never thought it all through I guess."

She turned to face the Doctor again and tapped his nose with a fingernail. "No, I'm not leaving just cos you've got a weird but brilliant ship. But I do want to know anything about her and you that might be considered abnormal compared to humans and human experience in the 21st century before it comes up in an adventure, so I don't waste time panicking or being grossed out. Or being weirdly fascinated, depending. But not just this minute - Christmas dinner first, and...blimey, finding some way to explain all this to Mum." That last bit was moaned, and Donna picked up the cloth, wrung it out and buried her face in it.

The Doctor was still a bit cross-eyed and startled from when Donna had tapped his nose, but straightened himself out in time to pat her shoulder. "I will explain everything later, and as for your family...we can tell them that I caught Lance cheating on you and helped send him packing...oorrr," He drew it out and waited for her to peek over the top of the cloth. "Or, we can...tell them the truth. That he was working with an alien to harvest the world for food resources, and between us and the military that all got sorted."

"But we're not telling them that you're an alien too, right?" Donna peered at her face in the mirror, only blinking once in a bit of surprise as the ambient light brightened so she could check her face easier. Huh...well, it could be handy living in a live ship after all, if this was the sort of thing that would happen. "Well, still looks like I've been crying, but I'm not a horrible mess anymore." She sniffed once, then gave him a once-over. "Have to figure out why you'd be crying too, spaceman. And a name - if you're not going to tell them you're an alien, you'll need a normal name. Cos here on Earth, 'Doctor' is a title."

"Probably wouldn't go over well, telling them I'm an alien and taking their daughter away with me, no. Not if your mum slaps half as well as you do, anyway." He rubbed his cheek in reminiscence, then continued. "But don't worry, I've got a cover...sort of. See, I used to work with UNIT, oh, so very long ago for me, at a point in my life when I was stuck on the planet. They decided I should get an official title as well as paid for the work I was doing for them, so you're looking at Doctor John Smith, scientific advisor for the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. We-ell, United Intelligence Taskforce now, but still. Same group, just a bit of a different name."

"Blimey, you don't half get around, do you?" Donna shook her head and handed the Doctor a dry towel, then scrubbed her face dry. "And that must have been horrible for you, being all stuck on one tiny, insignificant little planet like this when you were used to having the whole universe to roam." She patted his arm in sympathy, then gave him a playful little swat a few inches higher up. "Well come on, I know we've technically got all the time in the world, but my stomach's beginning to think my throat got cut!"

"Yeah, I do get around. And...it was a hard time, but there were a few compensations. Three or four of my best and most fondly remembered human friends I wouldn't ever have gotten so close to if I hadn't been stuck at UNIT. Might never even have met two or three of them, actually, without that time." He made a last pass over his face with the towel, then set his hair into some sort of order before offering Donna his arm. "And now, fair lady, if you will allow me to escort you back to the console room, we'll get us back to Christmas dinner."

"You are so silly!" She laughed and took his arm. "Lead on then, Doctor Smith. And I want to hear about your other friends too when we have time, right?"

"Course I can tell you about them," He smiled, and if there was a flicker of relief in his eyes, no one but Donna was there to notice, and he didn't think she'd seen it. It seemed like she wasn't going to be at all jealous of past companions...not like Rose had been when she'd met Sarah Jane. Perhaps it was the age difference? Rose had, after all, still been so young, and Donna was much more mature in her outlook...as well as her age, which didn't matter at all to him. Except that it meant she'd be better able to handle things, and understand when he just didn't want to talk, and...well, and so on.

Back in the console room, Donna let him go so he could do whatever he needed to, though she did watch him avidly in case something stupid happened in the future and she had to get them out of orbit. Or even answer a pop quiz, though she didn't think he was that sort. "So, we back yet?"

"Yup! Just rematerialised across the street from your house, five minutes after we left. Let's go face the interrogation then, shall we?" He held out his hand with a smile and waggled his fingers at her.

"Prawn," she snorted and rolled her eyes but took his hand anyway. "More like the Spanish Inquisition, when Mum gets started. And then Dad'll chime in, and if Gramps is feeling better he'll come out of the blue when you least expect it. He may not join us though - he's got Spanish flu, which is why he wasn't there at the wedding or the reception. Only just got out of hospital yesterday."

"Shame about the flu. Well, let's go face the inquisition - Allons-y!" He squeezed her hand, smiled and led her out of the TARDIS and across the street to her parents' house.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: The Spanish Inquisition, surprises, and the Doctor explains a bit about how very different he is. A bit rambly, and I should have warned in the beginning that this would be a slow-moving story at the beginning. At any rate, beta love to tkelparis! And love to all my reviewers and readers!

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Chapter 2: Meet the Nobles

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Introductions had been...interesting, he thought. And a bit tricky, what with Sylvia throwing a fit about his ruining the reception - even though the Robot Santas had mostly been responsible for that - but after he'd explained the whole situation with the Robot Santas belonging to the Racnoss and Lance working with them, things had gotten a bit calmer. Donna had gotten the chance to go upstairs and change, and then over dinner, he'd sort of started to explain himself, and that he'd offered Donna the chance to go along with him and keep him out of too much trouble. Then the most surprising thing happened.

Out of the apparent blue, Geoffrey cleared his throat over the tea and pudding stage, and gave him the most intent look he'd recently received from a human. "I never thought I'd encounter you again after I left UNIT, Doctor. Why didn't you just tell us who you were to begin with?"

The Doctor sputtered in his tea cup, got handed a napkin by a shocked Donna, and then met the gazes of a curious Sylvia and Geoffrey. Wilfred was blinking in surprise, and, well, Donna looked like a fish, mouth opening and closing without a peep being uttered. "Um...well...I, um, thought it wouldn't go over too well explaining all of that. Wait a minute," The Doctor stared at Geoffrey intently - something about him was vaguely familiar. "How do you know me?"

"I'm an old UNIT war-horse, Doctor Smith - or should I just say Doctor?" Geoffrey smirked as the Doctor gawped, prompting Sylvia to mutter about catching flies. "I was a private during that mess in Wales - you remember the mutated maggots, right? You were really rather peeved at me for trying to shoot that giant fly-thing." He'd have gone on, but the Doctor had suddenly gone from gawping to beaming.

"Oh yes! Private Noble, who scoffed the last bowl of fungus soup after it was all over! That's where I remember you from! Amazing food source, that fungus of Professor Jones'...I wonder why it never made a big splash?" He went from grin to sulk, remembering the loss he'd suffered that day, and muttered. "Probably because he'd gone and stolen my assistant and got distracted with marriage and the Amazon."

"It was good soup, and we hadn't eaten for ages," Geoff grinned, then shook his head. "Wouldn't know about Professor Jones and his fungus though. And the last time I saw you, I was a corporal during that giant robot mess...except you'd changed your face, but Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Mr. Benton still called you The Doctor, so since we'd been dealing with all sorts of alien menaces, I simply figured you were a friendly alien. You never did show up again during the rest of my time with UNIT...of course I'd got my discharge a year later so I could be a proper father to Donna...it always did puzzle me on how you changed your face though."

"Um, yeah," the Doctor said, over Sylvia's gasp of "Alien!" and Wilfred's mumble of "An alien, sat down to Christmas dinner with us, how brilliant is that!" He rubbed the back of his neck and gave them all a sheepish smile. "It's a thing with Time Lords - that's the kind of alien I am - we...well, if something fatal happens, we change physically."

He glanced Donna's way and frowned a bit to see her in an argument with her mum, but carried on trying to explain a bit about himself anyway. He could always tell her what she missed later. "Heals the damage, and if it's not penetrating damage like bullets or knives or something similar - or old age - the next body is more capable of surviving the same sort of injury. I can survive falls better than I used to, for instance. Better radiation tolerance too, come to think of it."

About then, the quiet argument between mother and daughter that had been going since the revelation of the Doctor's identity became very audible, as Donna had lost all patience. "Oh mum, give it a rest would you? Has he done anything to hurt you or Dad? No. Has he done anything to hurt me? Not on purpose - it's not his fault Lance was working with aliens and was cruel enough to trap me with a wedding so he could feed me to voracious spider-things. The Doctor saved the world well before those tanks blew up that webby star ship, so just let it go!"

"But Donna, he's an alien!" Sylvia half-shouted, concern for her daughter overriding common politeness. "Who knows what he's got in mind for you for later?"

"Certainly not what you're thinking, Mum, whatever _that_ is! Now shut it and let me have my say for a change!"

Blimey, but Donna could shout, and the Doctor made a note to never force Donna to glare at him like that. She could be quite scary when she wanted.

"Quiet? Good. Now, Dad's worked for an organisation that trusts the Doctor with the safety of the entire planet. Don't you think there would've been something said if the Doctor had anything in mind for any of his travelling mates like you're thinking of? Whatever _that_ is? So why are you having such a fit because I'm going to go traveling with that mad, brilliant idiot who needs looking after? Just cos he's an alien?"

"I...I just want what's best for you, Donna. And gallivanting around with an alien doing who knows what...is that really for the best?" Sylvia sniffed, waving a napkin around like a flag. Truce flag, the Doctor hoped, watching the pair of them with wary curiosity.

"Mum, I know you just want what's best for me," Donna softened and put her hand over one of her mum's, then squeezed it gently. "But we've got different ideas of what's best, and for me, right now, travelling with that brilliant nutter and saving the world - probably loads of worlds - is the best thing going for me. It won't land me a good career, or a husband or anything like that, but Mum...I've been to the creation of the Earth with him. This planet we're sitting on right now - I got to see it forming, because of him. And that was the most wonderful and awe-inspiring thing I've ever seen in my life. I can't give over everything that's out there waiting to be seen just cos you want me to be more traditional."

Everyone in the room could tell when Sylvia capitulated, because she ignored any further discussion with Donna and turned to scowl at the Doctor. "I don't care what sort of nonsense you do in your travels, but I will have the pair of you back here every weekend, you hear me? I'm not going to be sitting here for months on end wondering if my only child is safe! I want to see it with my own eyes, frequently!"

"I can do that, yeah. Easy-peasy, not a problem," was the Doctor's immediate reply. He wasn't an idiot about imminent threats such as mothers - at least not anymore. And he could tell there would have been an immediate danger to his person if he'd not agreed to bring Donna back every weekend. Even if it was horribly domestic, he'd manage to deal with it. Somehow. "So long as Donna is good with it."

"We might miss a weekend or two, mum, but I'd call and let you know in advance, all right?" Donna immediately chimed in, and the Doctor decided to find out her favourite time period and take her there as a treat for saving him from having to deal with her mum _too_ much.

"Well, maybe. We'll talk about it later." Sylvia huffed, then bustled off to refresh the teapot.

A raspy chuckle got the Doctor's attention, and Wilf grinned at him. "You're stuck with at least bi-weekly visits now, lad. They've made the bargain."

"Yes, well, keeping the family of friends happy is as important as keeping my friends happy, I've found." The Doctor gave Wilf a crooked smile, then relaxed further as more tea was poured and conversation resumed. Of course, now he had to tell about lots of his adventures - mostly the ones either before or after his time with UNIT, because he couldn't remember which ones were still deemed Top Secret. Though he did fill in the details of the maggot mess and the robot, since Geoff had mentioned them. Oh, and his adventure with Sarah Jane and the dinosaurs in London, since that one had been in the papers.

But storytelling long into the night was a small price to pay for permission to travel with Donna. And he didn't get slapped at all, which was a huge plus. True, he also had to stay the night and do Christmas Day tomorrow, but that was also a small price to pay.

And on the balance, Geoffrey, Sylvia and Wilf treated him much better than he had any right to expect. It was even possible that he'd enjoy future visits with Donna's family, which was weird and domestic and more than a bit scary. And...oddly enough, it was becoming something to look forward to. Tentatively. With a great deal of trepidation.

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On Christmas Day, he also somehow found himself giving Geoffrey, Sylvia and Wilf a brief tour of the TARDIS, after he'd moved the Old Girl to the back to make moving Donna's luggage easier. And a bit less conspicuous, now that he thought on it. He'd told her that the TARDIS could supply her anything she needed, but she'd made a good point in saying that she was used to her own clothes and she'd feel more comfortable with them...which, given what had happened yesterday, she'd need all the comfort familiarity could bring, so he didn't fuss too much. Even though he did end up carrying her bags.

So he'd showed off the console room, then the medbay where they stayed a good half hour. Sylvia had reminded them that they'd both had a soaking in Thames-water, so she'd demanded he check to make sure neither of them were going to have Thames-tummy sneak up on them. And since they were both fine, he fixed Wilf up to prove he could take care of Donna medically. Then the tour had gone on to the new kitchen that had shown up in place of the food room - which put their departure off for yet another day as Sylvia said he didn't have enough to feed a mouse, so doing the shop was a necessity.

Then Donna had separated from the rest of them to find her room, so he showed her family the library, where they lost Geoff and Wilf for a bit. They'd peeked into and admired the telly room, then they caught up with Donna in her bedroom, which was much admired by all and led the Doctor to having to explain that the TARDIS was alive and had set the room up for Donna. Well, it wasn't fair to claim the credit for what his ship had done, was it? Come to think of it, she'd probably made the kitchen for Donna too...that was odd. She'd never done anything like that before. Maybe Donna liked cooking as a hobby?

It was all horribly, horribly domestic, but...it was also kind of nice, the way Donna's family had just sort of...well, welcomed him in. Sort of. Well, a little. Yes, he was still an alien, he could tell they hadn't forgotten that. But he was also a friend of Donna's, and rapidly becoming friends with Geoff and Wilf, and...well, apparently they treated friends like family. In his case, a weird distant fifth cousin thrice-removed, probably, but still. Family. It was new, it was unique, and...he had to admit, in his most private thoughts, that he was starting to like it. Sort of. Just a teensy-weensy bit. Maybe it wouldn't be too much of a chore to do weekly visits...

But enough musing - there was shopping to do to satisfy Sylvia's desire to not have her daughter starve to death, and then he and Donna would be off into the universe! He could hardly wait to show her the beauties and marvels that awaited them!

And get away from any hint of settling down - as nice as they were, the domestic nature of the Nobles was making him itch. Not physically, mind, but he was desperately wanting to escape any hints of being tied to one place and time.

* * *

"So," Donna started, once they'd finally escaped from her family and into the Vortex, whatever that really was. "I know we just escaped the Spanish Inquisition and family circus, but d'you feel like telling me more about yourself and the TARDIS?"

"Hm?" The Doctor looked up from the monitor where he'd been plotting out where to go next and smiled at her. "I suppose I could, yeah. Don't have anywhere we have to be...unless you figured out somewhere or when you want to go?"

"Nah, haven't even thought about it. Been too boggled that I managed to make Mum back down twice." Donna smiled, disbelief plain on her face as she shed her brown leather coat and draped it over her arm. "Usually we just go 'round and 'round till Dad gets sick of it and finds a way to stop us. This time...this time it was me."

"I'd noticed things between you and your mum were a bit...erm. Strained?" The Doctor said as he led Donna down the hall to the library.

"Yeah. Dad says it's cos we're too much alike, and Gramps agrees and then tells me another story of a row my Nan had with her, cos Mum and Nan were too much alike too," Donna sighed as she followed him down the hall, and groaned softly when they walked into the library. "One of these days you're gonna find me in here covered in dust while I rearrange this place according to the Dewey Decimal system."

Mouth open to say that Donna and Sylvia were nothing alike, he stopped as comparisons popped up in his head. They were both strong-willed, determined...actually, objectively, the only difference he could see in Sylvia and Donna this early in knowing them was that Donna was ginger and younger. Oh, and was a lot warmer and kinder when she didn't think she had to shout to be heard. So he converted the protest to one about his library. "No no no no no, don't! I've got these shelves organised to my own system, and if you change it I'll never be able to find anything!"

Donna rolled her eyes and sat on the sofa, toed off her flats and tucked her feet under her, then laid her coat over the arm of the sofa. "Oh please. I'm human, and when I worked six months at Hounslow Library, I learnt the Dewey Decimal system in two days flat. Surely you could do the same? I mean, seriously, as far as I can tell from this first look, you don't have a system."

"I do too. It's...evolved over the years." He rubbed the back of his neck as he joined her on the couch and sprawled a bit.

"Yeah, yeah. I bet you make the TARDIS do all the work of keeping track of it all." Donna smirked and got comfortable.

"Don't." The Doctor pouted magnificently, not realising that the combination of protest and pout would confirm in Donna's mind that he actually did. Which...to be honest, which he usually was in his own head, he actually did. "Thought you wanted to know more about my biology and stuff?"

"I do. How you organise - or don't - is part of the 'stuff'." She smirked smugly, certain now that he made the TARDIS handle the organising. "Sooo, I know you've got cooler hands than most blokes of my experience, and I'm kinda curious as to why. So let's get started on the biology."

"Right," he agreed as he sat up, pleased she wasn't going to keep on about the disorganised mess that was his library. "Well, let's see. I've got two hearts, two livers, four kidneys, my digestive system is both more complex and more efficient than a human's...umm, bones are denser, all my senses are sharper and have a larger range than human ones, plus I have lots of senses that humans don't. And of course my brain's bigger. And denser, tissue-wise."

Donna swatted him, lightly. "Yeah, yeah. And your ego's definitely bigger than any human I've ever met." A thought made her tilt her head at him in inquiry. "Having better hearing though...is that why that sonic screwdriver of yours doesn't have a place for readings? Cos you can hear the variations in the bleeps and buzzes and know how to interpret them?"

He mock-flinched from her swat, then shrugged. "We-ell, I could say yes, but you'd slap me again eventually when you found out I was lying. There is a readout, it's just inside the screwdriver because it's a psychic circuit. And because I'm telepathic, I can hear the data in my head."

She frowned lightly at him, then rolled her eyes. "Was wondering when _that_ was gonna come out. There better not be any unauthorised reading of my mind, Spaceman, or I'll slap you into next week!"

"Donna! Honestly, it's just because you wanted to know all the differences that I even told you I was telepathic. I don't go randomly reading minds - that causes all sorts of trouble." He frowned at her then. "Wait a minute - what do you mean, you were wondering when that was going to come out?"

"Duh," She rolled her eyes at him again, then waved at the walls surrounding them. "You said the TARDIS was telepathic, that she'd get into my head but only enough to translate languages. Kind of logical, since you're her pilot, that you'd be telepathic too."

"Oh. Oh, Donna Noble, you are brilliant!" He grinned at her. "D'you know that? Absolutely brilliant!"

"Stop taking the mick, you," Donna blushed and shook her head. "It just seemed like it made sense. Course, it's all too science fiction for words...but then, I've dived right into a science fiction story, haven't I?"

"There are stranger things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio…Shakespeare, brilliant man. Maybe we should go meet him sometime, what do you think?"

"Oh my God! You're serious, aren't you? Me - us - go meet Shakespeare?" Donna's voice rose to a squeak. "Really?" Her eyes were huge with awed wonder, and she was gawping at him. "Oh my God!"

"Well, we could, yeah. Sometime. No rush in a time machine, you know." He grinned at her awed expression, even as he wondered exactly how much of Earth's history Donna was going to end up wanting to see.

"Sometime, yeah. Gotta have a chance to get used to this whole time travel thing," She nodded, calming down a bit. Then something occurred to her, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "Not that I mind the distraction and all, but we were talking about you and the TARDIS. Something you don't want to tell me, Doctor? Like maybe you have two penises to go with those two hearts?"

The Doctor sputtered and a part of him wondered how she managed to say something like that with a straight face? "What? No! No, no, no, no, no! I do not have two penises! Why would you even ask something like that?!"

"In case someone got mad enough at you to kick you there, of course." Donna snorted softly and poked him lightly in the chest. "Not interested in sex with you, skinnyboy - I'd probably end up with papercuts. Just making sure I know what's different so I don't freak out, remember? And I may not have followed my mum in being a nurse, but I am certified for first aid. Part of my scuba-diving certs. So I want to know how to take care of you if I have to."

"Ah. Well in that case, I'll see if there's a first aid book around here and get it translated into English for you. Hm...I'll shift the medbay's scanners and so on to scroll English for you, too, and introduce you to the most commonly used tools in there. But that can wait for a while, yeah?"

She smiled at his uncomfortable look and patted his hand. "Yeah, that can wait for a bit. And I figure as long as you're not unconscious you could talk me through whatever anyway. So... back to the first question I asked, with you and your cooler hands. Is that just cos of the two hearts?"

"Well, mostly. Partly it's because Time Lords have a much more efficient insulation than human adipose tissue." He smiled, relieved beyond words that she'd let the subject of his genitals drop so quickly. And, a bit, that she actually cared enough to want to know how to take care of him at need.

"It'd have to be more efficient," she snorted. "You don't look like you've got an extra ounce on you, for all that you eat like a horse. Not like me. Bit too much fatty insulation, I've got."

"And it looks very good on you, too." Apparently he'd said something wrong, because she'd opened her mouth indignantly, so he rushed on. "Anyway, there's another large physiological difference between us - it's called respiratory bypass. If I get into a situation where I need to hold my breath, I can do it for as long as ten minutes, though six is preferable. Ten, I'm gasping like a landed fish when I start breathing again."

"One more comment on my size and I'll be testing that bypass thing out by trying to drown you in a bathtub, Spaceman." Donna growled, still peeved that he'd commented at all on her weight. Even if he had said it like a compliment.

"Um...would it be considered a comment on your size to tell you that the 21st century obsession with skinny equalling beautiful is not only total nonsense, but extremely unhealthy too? And that there are artists in the past and the future who'd give an arm or a leg to paint you?"

"Only if you're taking the mickey, mate." She narrowed her eyes at him and glowered for a minute, then sighed. "Next thing you're gonna say is 'I'll take you then and show you', so let's just take that as said and move on to any other differences between us."

"Well, all right. But anytime you want to drop in on an artist and get gushed over, let me know." He flashed her a quick grin, then relaxed as she didn't leap up to drag him off to drown him. "Right, other differences. I'm deathly allergic to salicylic acid, so no trying to give me aspirin, and if we're in the Middle Ages or find an herbalist, no trying to give me willow-bark tea. It'll kill me dead, no chance of regeneration."

Donna was horrified that something so simple and common could kill this nutter alien friend of hers, and couldn't help but blurt out. "Wot? Aspirin will kill you? How? And what's this 'regeneration' nonsense?"

"Dissolves my blood cells and destroys my equivalent to your lymphatic system, plus destroys the various organs that come into play to spark regeneration off. And regeneration is basically a Time Lord's way of cheating death, you must have missed it when I was explaining to your dad and granddad cos you were arguing with your mum about nefarious plots she thought I had in mind. Most any sort of death, even simple old age, and my entire body changes and renews. Course, I become a bit of a different person with personality changes, but I'm still me. Still the Doctor."

"Right, so no giving you aspirin then." She shuddered at the thought of him probably dissolving into a steaming pile of mush, or at least so she pictured from his sketchy explanation, then frowned at him but decided to let that remark slide cos she _had_ been arguing with her mum. "So...you change your whole body when you're about to die? How many times can you do that?"

"Twelve. Or at least it was twelve...I haven't checked since the end..." He looked off into the distance for a while, almost lost in memories, then snapped back to himself when he felt Donna take his hand. He gave her a small, crooked smile. "This is my tenth me, by the way, if you were going to ask."

"Well, I probably was, sooner or later." She gave him a concerned look, then squeezed his hand. "Must have been horrible, dying nine times."

He stared at her, utterly flabbergasted by her compassion, and his mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he could finally figure out something to say. "You're the first person who's ever noticed the downside to regeneration. Of course, most of my companions have had to deal with it on the fly, so to speak, and they've had to struggle with how hard it is on them, suddenly being with a seemingly different person...but still. You're the first one who's ever considered how hard it is on me."

Donna flushed, embarrassed at him being in near-awe of her, and shrugged. "Well, it's dying, innit? Dying's hard enough for us who only do it once...can't imagine doing it nine or more times. Still, don't see why anyone else didn't get that it's hard on you."

"Eh, well, sometimes it was harder on them to understand I was still the same person despite the changes. Ben and Polly had a hard time accepting me as me after I died of old age...uhm...the second one was forced and traumatic...and I was alone for it...anyway. Sarah Jane was good for me my third death, though. Just seemed to take it in stride even though it took her a bit to get used to that new me - I was a lot more Bohemian as my fourth self, and she was used to an older chap who had a preference for velvet and ruffles and an almost Bond-like flair. Let's see...I'm not really sure how Tegan and Nyssa handled it when I fell - there was a bit of a difficulty with that regeneration and I almost didn't make it."

Donna blinked at him, then tilted her head. "So the older chap with ruffles and the Bohemian bloke...those are the ones my dad saw?"

"Yup," he nodded, smiling a bit. "I was just off the regeneration with that Robot though, so that's why I didn't remember him having been there." He gave her a half-smile, then asked. "D'you want me to carry on?"

"Yeah, might as well," she nodded as she spoke.

He shook his head and heaved a sigh. "Well, fifth death...I really don't know how Peri forgave me, much less decided to keep on with me after I went bonkers and tried to strangle her after regenerating from being poisoned. Still, she was a good person. Not the brightest, but a good woman. Hmm...Mel...well, we were in a bit of a crisis just afterward, for my sixth, and I guess she just accepted it. Left after a while, though, for a bloke with a spaceship. Seventh death I was alone for, and that was a messy, complicated one. And I was alone for the next one too...just the TARDIS that time..." He trailed off and stared into the distance again, only brought back by Donna squeezing his hand again.

"Sorry, sorry." He looked down at his lap.

"No, s'all right. I may feel you need to talk about it more, but you wanting to share...well that'll come with time or it won't. And you can talk about something else if you want

"Nah, it's just the ninth death to go. Rose...I had to convince her I was the same person. And I got sick from that regeneration, and it took me a while to settle down into the new me, too. But here I am, tenth me."

"With a loud and obnoxious ginger now." Donna smiled a bit and let go his hand, though she patted it before she moved her hand away. "I'd like to see what the rest of you looked like at some point, but that can wait. Soo...you said you've got extra senses I don't have too, right?"

"Yup!" He relaxed at the change of subject and gave her a crooked smile. "I've got twenty-seven senses. The usual five, as I said, much enhanced as compared to humans. For example, I can see in ultraviolet and hear both super- and subsonic sounds. I've got psychic ability - what humans call the sixth sense, although it's actually more senses than just one - and quite a lot of the rest deal with time. Seeing it, sensing it...manipulating it in minor degrees."

"Yeah, don't go rubbing in the bigger brain bit too much, okay?" She stuck her tongue out at him, then frowned in puzzlement. "Manipulating time? Well, obviously you need the TARDIS to travel in, so you can't travel through time easily on your own. So what do you mean, 'manipulating time'?"

"Slow time for myself - great for dodging assaults and so on. Of course to people in normal time it looks like I'm moving faster than they can see. I can do that too - accelerate time in a small area." He thought for a few moments, then shook his head. He didn't want to mention what else he could do with the time acceleration - it was never pretty when he had to use it in an offensive capability. "That's pretty much it...I'm sure there's a biology book or three around here that I could translate for you that would probably tell you more of the details..."

"Yeah, I'll save reading for later, sunshine." Having had enough of her friend's weirdness for a while, she thought for a few minutes. She could ask about other companions, but that'd probably depress him again if he thought she meant Rose...what could they talk about? Oh, of course! "Tell me a bit more about the TARDIS? I mean, I know she's alive, and she's hooked into my head at the subconscious level cos she presented me with the perfect bedroom...but I'd like to know more. I mean, I'm gonna be with you for a long time, and that means with her, and I can't chat with her cos I'm not telepathic...so..."

"I understand." He gave her a warm smile and got a bit more comfortable on the sofa. "Well, a very long time ago, I borrowed her." There was a tinkle of bells, and he shifted uncomfortably. "All right, all right, we stole each other."

He returned his attention to Donna, who was giving him a puzzled look, and shrugged. "That was the TARDIS saying she stole me...although really, I borrowed her. But I really had intended to bring her back..."

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Not after you got a taste of what the universe was like, I'll bet." Donna leant back into the sofa and smirked at him. "So the tinkling bells means she's amused?"

"We-ell, yeah, that...and they were going to decommission her. Imagine, tossing this magnificent old girl on the trash heap just because they'd got newer models! I couldn't stand for that!"

He thought about her question a moment, then nodded. "I suppose so - she was amused when she corrected me, anyway."

"Newer models? I thought you said TARDISes were alive? Wouldn't that mean they were grown?" She tilted her head at him, frowning. If he'd been taking the mick, she'd have words, she would! At least he was answering questions, she'd give him points for that.

"They were. There's two ways to grow a TARDIS. One, you take a sample of coral from the...ah...mother TARDIS and let it grow according to its version of DNA, which gives you a new TARDIS of the same type in a few centuries. Or less, depending how the growth is accelerated. The other is taking that sample and manipulating it to make things different. My Old Girl is a Type 40 Mark I. I think there were as many as five different variations of the Type 40 until they decided they were tired of how all the Mark 40's were...well...finicky."

"Finicky? You're making it sound like type 40 TARDISes were like cats." Donna folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I suppose you could say they were. A bit. They had strong opinions, not like older and most later types. I told you the Old Girl said she stole me, didn't I? They were very picky about which pilots they'd establish the necessary symbiotic bond with, and since most of my people were more than a bit staid and stuffy and wanted TARDISes to do what they were told all the time...well, the Type 40's got discontinued."

"So...let me see if I've got this straight. Type 40's were picky, and the Old Girl here was going to get tossed on the trash heap for being picky, when you came along...and then what? You picked her out of all the possible discards?"

"Something like that." He was interrupted by another chime of silvery bells, then smiled at Donna sheepishly. "She said she liked the feel of my mind and influenced me to pick her."

"Definitely has a mind of her own then, though I'm wondering a bit about her taste." Donna grinned and let her hands fall to her lap, then hoped that the TARDIS understood she was only teasing the Doctor, not trying to offend her. "Bet that makes going where you want a bit tricky sometimes though."

"Yeaaah," he drawled. "But it's mostly fun, and I've come to realise that when she takes me places I didn't intend to go, it's because I'm needed there. And anyway," he grinned at her and wagged a finger. "You came along with me, so don't go knocking the Old Girl's taste."

"I was only teasing, you peanut." Donna smirked. "So...she takes you where you're needed...and I bet that's where a lot of the danger comes in, yeah? But what does it mean that I got pulled aboard her and you two found danger cos of that?"

"I'm not really sure," he replied and rubbed the back of his neck. "I know it's because of the huon particles...but I'm not sure how she and you latched onto each other instead of you being sent to the extrusion factory where the Empress could have had you tied up and triggered everything off without me even knowing about it."

"Ugh, don't even think about that!" Donna shivered. "If the Old Girl won't tell you, I'll just be happy that it happened."

"She hasn't told me yet...but then she doesn't tell me a lot of things." He smiled apologetically. "It might be because she's eleven-dimensional, and I'm...well, not. It's hard to understand her sometimes because of that, and how she latched onto you, or vice-versa might be one of those moments."

"Huh. Well, I can see how hard it'd be to understand her cos of that, yeah. Hard enough for me to imagine thinking in four dimensions, much less eleven." Donna smiled wryly, then leant back against the sofa, watching him.

"Yup." They sat in silence for a while, a comfortable sort of silence between friends. One that was only broken by Donna's stomach grumbling. "I keep forgetting that humans need regular feeding, sorry. Shall we pop over to the kitchen and whip something up?"

"Wot, you saying you can cook now, skinnyboy? This I've got to see." She smirked again and got off the couch, toed her flats back on and stood there looking at him. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Didn't expect you to move so fast, that's all," He smiled and joined her in verticality, then took her hand and lead her out of the library. "We'll feed you up, and yes, I'll eat something too, and then we'll figure out someplace to go."

"And we'll hope we actually go there and the TARDIS doesn't decide to take us somewhere else, yeah?" Donna wasn't quite certain what to think about how tactile the Doctor was being, but the hand-holding was nice so she wasn't going to argue about it. Yet.

"Pretty much, yeah. Anyway, lunch first and then we go places. Allons-y!" And with a grin, he tugged her off to the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own'em, just playing with 'em. I'll put them back when I'm done. :)

Author's Notes: There will be S3 episodes, eventually, and Martha. Just not yet - I thought they could use an original adventure first. Setting up for a bit of extra interesting stuff, I am. And no, not telling yet :D And please don't kill me for the cliffie.

And, as my Beta tkelparis said when she read Chapter 2, the Doctor really needs to have that talk with all his companions. It's just, nobody ever asks…well, until now.

Love to all my reviewers and readers!

* * *

Chapter 3: An Arcadian Adventure

* * *

They hadn't actually been able to go places after lunch, though - the TARDIS had required something done to something or other that Donna couldn't make heads nor tails of. It was all technobabble to her and went right over her head. So she'd compensated by exploring the ship and getting lost from not asking directions. And by the time she'd finally found the kitchen again, she was ready to just have a bowl of soup, go to bed, and hope it was all some sort of crazy dream.

Flippin' heck, what was he doing with an ambulatory, people-eating plant he called George, anyway? Nutter...it'd be enough to make her pack up and leave except someone had to keep him straight and make sure he fed his bloomin' plant so it wouldn't try and eat people! And George _was_ kind of cute, in a creepy, Little Shop of Horrors kind of way. Especially after it'd been fed and had twined bits of itself around her ankles trying to apologise - she'd almost thought it was purring before it untwined itself and sloped off for wherever it lived when the Doctor wasn't forgetting to feed it.

And that was just her first, official day in the TARDIS without being parked on Earth...what sort of nonsense would happen on her first official trip? Maybe, she thought as she walked into the kitchen for breakfast, they should try for a nice, quiet historical trip first. Sort of ease her into it, so to speak. And she said exactly that to him when he showed up - coincidentally when the kettle whistled and the toast popped up.

"Well," he replied as he confiscated the first stack of toast. "We could do that, easy-peasy. Pick a time period and a place and I'll take you there." He gave her a charming smile, then plonked down at the table and started scooping marmalade out of the jar with his fingers.

"Oh. My. God! Do you have any idea how unsanitary and messy that is? I swear, you eat like a two year old!" And she'd been looking forward to marmalade on her toast...bother that blasted Time boy anyway!

He didn't reply for a moment as he'd just stuck his fingers in his mouth to lick them clean. "Er...sorry? What should I use then?"

"A spoon, a knife...anything but your fingers! Now there's Martian germs all in there, and I'd wanted marmalade on my toast!" She huffed and glared at him from beside the teapot she'd just added water to, then folded her arms. "Guess I'll have to have some sort of jam, you child-like Martian nitwit!"

"And how long are you going to keep calling me Martian now that you know I'm really not?" He raised an eyebrow at her and got up to fetch a new jar of marmalade from the pantry.

"Oh, I dunno," She narrowed her eyes at him when he got up, but let her arms fall when she saw the peace offering. "Whenever I'm really, really annoyed with you, I guess."

"Well, it could always be worse," he shrugged, fetched her toast from the toaster and plopped it down on the table, then opened the new jar of marmalade with a flourish. "You could get all creative, like you did with that taxi driver."

"Meh." She shrugged and brought the pot over, then smiled when he fetched mugs without being asked. "Don't think I'd ever be that mad at you...probably."

"And may I say I'm very, very glad you'll probably never be that mad at me?" He poured out the tea and sat back down.

"Yeah, well, mind you I did say probably. Knowing you, you'll likely test the limit without even meaning to." She smirked at him, added two sugars to her tea, then set about applying marmalade to toast with a knife. Fairly obviously too, as though to show him how it ought to be done. Not like he paid attention, the daft prawn. Just kept scooping it up and smearing it on his toast with his fingers.

And she was going to have to have words with him about how to clean his fingers too - even though he was a skinny weasel, it still did squidgey things to her insides to watch him suck and lick his fingers clean. It was probably his hands, she thought. He had gorgeous hands, though the rest of him wasn't properly attractive, with that mish-mash of features. Bother that daft alien git anyway.

"Well, I do seem to live for testing the limits." He finished sugaring his tea and gave her a soft, sweet smile after licking his fingers clean again. Then, for a good while, there was nothing but a crunchy silence between two friends eating toast. Until he cleared his throat after having finished his last piece. "So, have you picked any particular where and when you want to visit?"

"Well, it's a bit hard to decide. I mean, there's so many periods to choose from! But...I figured we could go see Ancient Rome or Egypt...or Greece! I always wanted to go to Greece, and now I have a chance to see it without pollution-damaged monuments and stuff. Blimey, I can actually see the Parthenon and so on when they were still new!"

He listened to Donna ramble on about time periods she'd like to visit, then grinned when she settled on a country. "Well, I'll have to pick a time they weren't having one of their many wars, but we can do Greece, no problem."

"Oooh, lovely! Can I wear a Grecian outfit? Though I think I'll skip baring a breast, don't need to be that exposed, even though the dresses are lovely." Donna beamed at the Doctor and very nearly clapped her hands like an excited child.

He shrugged and made a bit of a face that she wanted to go to the bother of dressing up. Especially Minoan style...a place and time he was unexpectedly, unexplainably reluctant to get her near. "I suppose, if you really want to. Just make sure you can run in the skirt, just in case. Oh, and...definitely skip the breast-baring."

"Why? Don't you think I've got nice tits?" Donna raised an eyebrow at him and sipped at her second cup of tea. Bloke that he was, she knew he'd peeked at least once, cos she'd caught him at it! And anyway, she was only teasing.

"Oh, they're lovely! Magnificent even! Might even go so far as to say they're almost-perfect examples of the human breast! Buuuut, I think wandering around with bared breasts was more Minoan than Greek. Even though they are magnificent." He fumbled to a halt and rubbed the back of his neck, almost ready to sink under the table as he realised he might have been just a little too enthusiastic in praise of the marvellous mammaries he'd only seen as much of as he had because her wedding dress was cut just so. But they really were magnificent, if his extrapolations were correct...

"You really think I've got magnificent tits?" Donna blinked at him, then wondered how she'd be able to ask the TARDIS if he had some way of peeping in her bathroom. That was way too much praise for the few glimpses he could've gotten of her cleavage. Wasn't it? Or did he just have a tit fetish and here were hers to ogle? Well, she'd just have to wear non-revealing tops and see if he still took notice, wouldn't she?

"Ye-I-um...need to go do a little bit of research to find the right time period to take us to!" He bolted out of his chair and was at the door before Donna could blink. "Why don't I show you to the Wardrobe and you can get changed while I do that?" Blimey, he hoped he hadn't earned another slap!

Oh, he was such a bloke! But lots nicer than most of the ones she knew, so she'd give him a pass. This time. Besides, it always made a woman feel better if she heard a bit of praise - not to mention he usually did keep his eyes up and talked to her instead of her chest. "Oh all right then, Sunshine. Show me this wardrobe."

And she grinned as he nearly bolted down the hall - trying to avoid a slap, no doubt. Not that she'd slap him again...well, not unless he was taking too much fun in something life-threatening again, anyway.

Five minutes later, thanks to a very amused TARDIS shuffling the halls around for them, the Doctor flung open a door and ushered Donna inside. "Here you are - the largest wardrobe in the universe." He grinned at her awe-struck face, then gestured at the nearest stair. "Classical Greek and Roman women's clothing is two flights up, take a right, go down four sections, take a left, third section on the right."

"Oh my God! You weren't kidding when you said it was the biggest wardrobe in the universe!" Donna gushed, then surprised him with a hug and headed for the stairs. "Give me about half an hour, Spaceman, I think it'll take a bit to find the right Greek clothes in all this."

"It'll take me about that long to pick a place and time. I don't want to come anywhere near any of their many wars, you know." He grinned as he watched her dart up the spiral staircase, then called out, "Have fun!" before he turned and left for the console room. But...did he hear a snicker as he left? He couldn't tell, and the TARDIS was mum on the subject.

* * *

It took Donna a good bit more than half an hour to figure out how to pin all that light blue cloth together and get it to drape right. Not to mention do her hair up right with cords and a circlet. But she thought it was all worth it though, when she reached the console room and saw him do a double-take. She did a slow turn and asked, "Well, how do I look?"

"Other than your circlet being a bit crooked - here, I'll fix that - you look marvellous. If your hair and skin were different, I might even mistake you for a native." He grinned and shook his head in amazed bemusement. Dressing for the time period was something he'd stopped bothering with ages ago, and eventually he'd come to think of it as too much fuss and bother to impose on companions. Especially Rose - she complained about how she shouldn't have to if he didn't, unless it was something cute like a poodle skirt. Even if she had looked lovely, that one time when they met Charles Dickens...

But looking at Donna, so pleased to be playing an adult version of dress-up, he rather thought he might give it a go at least once, just to see the look on her face Well, at least when they were visiting time periods when there were pockets, and he wouldn't have to depend on making pouches out of his clothing.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Will we have any trouble cos of this ginger mop of mine? And why didn't you change?" She tugged at the sleeve of his suit and frowned. "They'll have kittens to see you in your suit, won't they?"

"Eh, I need my pockets. And the TARDIS will keep them from noticing how I'm dressed. Besides, this is the around the beginning of the Grecian trade monopoly. We'll just be integrated Celts, that's all." He winked, then, after a moment of thought, frowned slightly. "This being a different culture, I want you to remember that women didn't have rights like those of the men. I mean, they can barter for purchases and so on, but otherwise they didn't have many rights. And arguing with a man in public is most definitely Not Done."

"So I'm to keep shut and follow two paces behind you? Should I be barefoot too?" She huffed and scowled angrily.

"No, you can walk beside me - they'll probably think we're a married couple, and it's the man's decision how much latitude he allows his wife. And definitely keep the sandals - you're not used to running around barefoot and I don't want you cutting up your feet. Just...don't argue with me, at least not around other people, all right?" He gave her a concerned, wary smile. "You can yell at me all you want later, when we're done visiting. If I've done anything worthy of being yelled at, of course."

Donna sighed and played with the drape of her girdle, then nodded and gave him a wry smile. "I think I can keep shut. I'll just pretend I'm your PA." She paused and wagged a finger at him. "Don't try and take any liberties though, Spaceman. It's just a role, letting them think we're married."

"I promise, I promise," he raised his hands in exaggerated self-defence and chuckled. "Now, do you want to know when and where we are?"

"Course I do!" she exclaimed. "So tell me already!" She grinned and bounced, then adjusted the gauzy outer cloth when it tried to slide off her shoulder. It had a name, but she'd forgotten it already. Pretty much just a piece of cloth to drape over the folded and pinned piece of cloth she had on. "Hope it's summertime though, or I'll look a right goose wearing a summer whatsit."

"It is," he nodded. "First thing I checked after I made sure we were in the right time and place, and it's a himation, not a whatsit. And it's the year 547 B.C.E., and we're at a lovely, peaceful place called Stymphalos. Right now in Athens, Pisitratus is taking back control and establishing himself as a benevolent tyrant. Which is less tyrannical than it sounds, cos democracy is already starting to flourish. Anyway, he was much more interested in trade rather than war once he got his hands back on the reins of power, so this is one of the safer times to pop into. Except... not in Athens right this moment, cos he's still busy getting a grip on things, and I didn't want us wandering into trouble."

He took a breath and continued. "Anyway, back to Stymphalos. It's the legendary site of the Sixth Labour of Hercules - the slaying of the Stymphalian birds. Which were actually Lesogothian Metlihawks, probably escaped from a crashed transport. You can tell, because they had bronze beaks and metal feathers the birds could launch at will like throwing knives. Shame Hercules had to kill them, they're lovely birds, just vicious beasties without the right sonic tech to get them under control. But anyway, the town is in Arcadia, renowned even into the European Renaissance as harmonious, unspoiled nature, and is part of the Peloponnesian peninsula."

"So, is that all the important stuff?" Donna was fidgeting, and torn between gawping in awe at his breath control or running off into the countryside to explore.

"Yeah, pretty much, except for the religion. They've got a fascinating archaic form of Hera-worship that harks back to the Great Mother religions - you know, Maiden, Mother, Crone? That also got echoed in the Fates, by the way - Clothos, Lachesis and Atropos were definitely Maiden, Mother and Crone. Beginning, middle and end of life, fascinating how it all echoes about, isn't it? Anyway, Hera's the current main deity of the town. I think. Or it may be Artemis, but there's little temples for all the other main gods, I'm sure. There always are. And if there's anything else, I'm sure it'll come to mind shortly. Meanwhile, let's go see what there is to see."

"Brilliant!" Donna bubbled excitedly and made for the doors of the TARDIS, opening them to find beautiful countryside and a dirt road. "Ooh, it's lovely! Outside Stymphalos then?"

"Yup." The Doctor answered. "Didn't think it'd go over too well with us materializing out of nowhere. At least this way we look like travellers." He smirked at Donna, then continued. "Well, the sort they'd expect, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. Hope it's not too far away though - these sandals aren't exactly like any of mine." Donna fidgeted in her sandals for a minute, then looked up the road in either direction. "So...which way, Doctor?"

He peered at the road a minute, then frowned. "Hmm. Hasn't been much traffic through here in days...that's odd. And what traffic there was all goes that way." He pointed off to their right, where a few trails of smoke could be seen from less than a quarter of a mile away. "There should be people leaving as well as coming...I don't understand it."

"Oh wonderful. A mystery in Ancient Greece." Donna snorted and shook her head. "Why did I ever assume this trip would be peaceful?"

"Weell, it could be a festival...the Ancient Greeks were very big on celebrating various days and gods and those varied from city to city, town to town. But something tells me it's not going to be quite that simple." He sighed and shook his head. "I really did mean to just bring you to a small town in a nice, peaceful era, Donna. Ah well, we won't find out what's going on just standing here, will we? Allons-y!" He took her hand and lead her townwards.

"Oh Spaceman. You said the TARDIS takes you where you're needed, sometimes," Donna sighed and matched pace with the skinny idiot who was already almost a best friend. Weird when she thought that she'd only known him a few days, but there it was. "Maybe she brought us where you wanted to go cos we're needed here?"

"Could be," He absently replied as they walked. "...I probably should've tried to take you to see the Sibyl. Lovely woman...still, I do love mysteries so maybe here was best after all."

"Kinda noticed that with all the Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christies and so on in the library," She glanced up at him as they entered the outskirts of the town, then smirked. "Don't suppose we could go shopping after this? I could already murder a good bit of chocolate."

"Eh, well, what can I say? I adore the classics," the Doctor nodded as they got a bit further in. "We'll go forward from here. Maybe San Francisco, I haven't been there in...ooh, several centuries. Well, for me, anyway. For you it'd have been only eight years ago. Lots of chocolate companies there, if we hit it at the right time - Ghirardelli, Recchiuti, CocoaBella, Richart...go on factory tours and get free samples at least."

He grinned briefly, then tugged Donna out of the way of a man walking the other direction and frowned at her in concern. "I know I said you didn't have to walk behind me, but maybe you'd better, for safety's sake."

"Mmm, it sounds lovely." She yipped as she was tugged almost off her feet, then barely quelled the urge to smack him on the arm. Mostly because he'd done it to get her out of the way of some idiot. "Maybe I'd better - that man didn't even notice I was there, did he?"

"No, he didn't." He kept frowning as he watched the back of the man who'd nearly run into Donna. "He didn't quite look right...I'm not sure what was wrong, but he definitely didn't look right. Almost...nah, that's ridiculous."

"Almost like what...like he was on drugs?" Donna asked as she peered at another pair of men walking along, blank-eyed, but with extremely blissful looks on their faces. "Cos I think it's not just him."

The Doctor eyed the two men until they turned down a cross-path and frowned, eyebrows knitted in concern. "I see what you mean. And that's a problem - ancient Greece didn't have what you'd call a drug problem. Alcoholism, maybe, and maybe opium addiction - there were a lot of colonies in Turkey and points east of there, where the opium poppies grow, and opium was a big trade item. Mostly for medicinal purposes. But I don't recall any big issues with opium abuse...not like that, not in the small towns like this one. And not so blatantly exhibited, either." They walked along the main street of the town a little further, then were met by an overly-cheerful man.

"Welcome, welcome to Stymphalos! Have you come as well to worship at the feet of the Gods come to walk among us?"

"Ah? Oh, yes, yes, we heard the news and we just couldn't stay away. Who could resist worshipping the gods in person?" The Doctor beamed at the man, then continued. "Only, well, the news my wife and I heard...well, it wasn't too specific about which of the Gods were here."

"Why, Zeus and Apollo, and Hera and Artemis! Come, come, you and your wife look as though you could do with a rest before you make your pilgrimage to the temple! Come, sit. Eat, drink, and be merry for the Gods are among us once more!"

* * *

A short while later, after the too-cheerful publican had served them and gone to tend to other patrons, Donna traced the meanders on her drinking cup. The Doctor had called it a skyphos - she just called it a two-handled bowl she was supposed to drink out of. And the wine in it was more than a bit off. Sour, like it'd been in the sun too long, and she didn't care for it one bit. "Doctor?" She murmured softly, so as to not attract attention. "Is the wine supposed to be this...well, sour in this time period?"

"Sour?" He'd been completely ignoring his wine in favour of the lamb and vegetables they'd been served on a flatbread. He picked up his skyphos and sniffed at the liquid, then wrinkled his nose and took a very tiny sip - which he promptly spat back into the cup. "Not just wine in there - that's something psychotropic. You didn't drink much, did you Donna?"

"Just a sip cos it was so sour. Psychotropic? You mean like LSD?" She shot a worried look at the cup - last thing she needed was for trouble to pop up and her be hallucinating!

"Nah, doesn't taste like one of the hallucinogens. No, this is one of the euphorics, I can feel it tingle on my tongue. Of the depressant rather than the stimulant variety...but it isn't opium. Which is strange, because it's easiest to get in this time period. Nooo..." He trailed off in thought, working his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "One of the benzodiazepines? Nooo, not quite, but certainly artificially created...oh but that's ridiculous! You'd need a proper laboratory to make those! Impossible for this time-frame!"

Donna cast a wary glance around the room, and, seeing that no one was watching them, dumped her cup's contents down a crack in the floor. "Right - we've got identical cups, you just hand yours over and I'll empty it too. Quick, before our too-happy host comes back." She rolled her eyes when he ignored her in favour of his chemical analysis by tongue - and wasn't that weird! - and switched their cups herself.

She'd just sat up again from dumping his cup and was just setting it back on the table when their overly-cheerful host reappeared and refilled their cups. "Drink, my friends! Drink and be merry! Tonight we worship!"

She watched the bloke stagger off with his weird pitcher, then crinkled her brow as she looked at the Doctor. "S'pose he's in on it then? The drugging?"

"Nah, he's obviously been sampling his wine all day, from the looks of him." He sighed and frowned at his refilled cup. "I don't like this. Someone's mixing depressants...I'm surprised that half the town isn't dead of it already."

"But...why would anyone want people so drugged-up that they can't tell which way is up?" Donna asked, confused, as she wondered when would be the right time to dump the wine again.

"Well, among other things, an euphoric crowd is an easily-manipulated one. We'll just have to do a little investigating, find out who's behind the deities coming to Stymphalos." He quirked her a little smile, then picked up his cup. "Cheer up, Donna. Remember, we're supposed to be drugged up and happy. Looking sad or angry is only going to call attention to us." He raised the skyphos, mimed drinking, then grinned and - with admirable sleight of hand - emptied his drink down the same crack in the floor Donna had used.

"Right, act stoned. Think I can manage that." She smiled at him, then decided he could deal with her cup too this time, and traded them when no one was looking. Then she lifted the empty cup and feigned draining it.

Fortunately they only had to pull the trick with the cups one more time before the entire crowd rose and left the tavern. Shrugging at each other, the Doctor and Donna followed, careful to keep similar euphoric expressions on their faces, as the entire town it seemed, was streaming to the largest building in the area.

* * *

Inside, the Doctor made sure to keep himself and Donna as far back in the crowd as they could be and still see and hear what was going on. He'd have tucked them into a shadowed niche, but with all the oil lamps making the temple as bright as day, there wasn't one to be had. And that was another thing wrong - no sensible Greek, even priests or priestesses, would waste this much oil, night service or not. His confusion turned to frowning when a priest positioned himself behind the altar, then he was near-jolted out of his skin by Donna softly hissing like a goose.

"Happy face, remember!" She kept her voice down and very nicely didn't jab him - that would've been worse than his frown for attracting attention. "What's got you looking so upset anyway?"

"The priest," he replied, murmuring softly and replacing his frown with a dopey smile. "This is - I think - Artemis' temple. You know, Artemis? Virgin -goddess- of the hunt? That shouldn't be a priest - not here, not in this temple. A priestess is what it should be. Oh, things are very, very wrong here, Donna."

"Yeah, but we kinda figured that out already, Spaceman. Or is this a huge violation that's gonna mess up time and space?" She was much better at keeping a spaced-out look on her face than he was, even though she was tempted to frown as the Doctor kept mum when the priest started talking about blessings and chosen ones.

And what was that annoying tickle? Ooh, her head was itching like mad! But how to scratch without drawing attention from the twit yammering away up front?

"Yea, we have had blessings! The sick and injured have been cured by Apollo himself! Now it is time for the Gods to choose their blessed servants for tonight!"

The Doctor's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but lose the silly face he'd been barely holding as sourceless beams of golden light speared down into the crowd, picking out a young man and woman toward the front of the crowd - and spotlighting him and Donna.

His head briefly throbbed with pain when he felt a sudden battering at his mental defences, but that was nothing compared to the worry in his hearts - a worry that rapidly morphed into panic - when Donna's face contorted with pain, then went utterly slack before she left his side to move toward the altar.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Still just playing in someone else's sandbox. But I build great castles in there, don't I? :D

Author's Note: Yeah, sorry about the cliffhanger. But that's what happens in the show...quite frequently, too, so why should I be any different? :D Anyway, trouble and more trouble, with lashings of trouble and a dollop of Donna putting the boot in on top ;)

There's a bit of a surprise in the end, but I thought it was about time I played with that potential as several others have, so...:)

Love to my reviewers and readers!

* * *

Chapter 4: An Alluring Assembly

* * *

Somehow, despite the panic rapidly turning to anger, the Doctor managed to make his face as blank and his stride as wooden as Donna's as he followed her up to - and then past - the altar. It was in the passage behind the altar when he had his first bit of difficulty - the young woman and Donna went left, when the young man he was behind went right. He was torn for a moment on which way to go, but eventually followed the young man and hoped Donna would be all right until he figured out what was going on.

Meanwhile, he had to put on a bit of speed as the fellow in front was just about to open a door, and he needed to be right there to keep the deception intact. At least the assault against his mental barriers had eased off, that was something.

Of course his deception went all to pot when he entered the room, saw the two six foot tall glowing females waiting for him and the other man, and his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Suquerbi?!"

* * *

Donna didn't quite know what had just happened - one moment she was trying to get the Doctor to keep looking as stoned as the rest of the populace, then her head had started itching like mad. Then she'd heard a high-pitched whine and got a vicious headache that she got a bit dizzy from, and then the next moment she was in a room with some girl she hadn't met and two big glowy guys. And when she said big and glowy, she meant it - it looked like they were individually spotlit, but she couldn't see a light source, and the buggers had to be about seven feet tall. And they were both frowning at her...totally wizard. So where was that Spaceman? Shouldn't he be here too?

_"That one's different. Hard to control,"_ she seemed to hear the slightly older-looking one say both with her ears and in her head. Only thing supposed to be in her head was the TARDIS, dammit! What the hell was going on here?

_"Yes, she is. Attractive, though...while I'd ordinarily fight you for her, I don't feel up for two fights tonight when I could be replenishing myself,"_ the other said. _"I'll take the native, you can have the new one."_ And before Donna could think, much less say a word, the slightly younger-looking one had smiled at the Grecian lass and the poor girl had followed him into yet another room.

Which left her with the slightly older guy who was really beginning to piss her off, leering at her like that and acting like he had rights to her body! "Oi! Hands!" She slapped away the hands that had been reaching for her himation and backed up a couple of steps.

_"Oh, you're a naughty one,"_ The man...alien...whatever he was smirked and stalked closer. _"You didn't drink your wine, did you?"_

"Well duh!" Donna scoffed and circled a bit to the side to keep him from cornering her against the wall. "Should watch those drugs, _mate_. Sour wine isn't appealing to anyone who isn't drugged to the gills already!"

_"A pity,"_ He mock-sighed and shook his head. _"You would enjoy Zeus' attentions far more if you'd just done as you ought. Still, it's been a while since I've had such a challenge - taming you will be fun."_

"Oh, I don't think so!" Donna circled a bit more as he kept stalking toward her. "You'd just better back off - I'm not here alone!"

_"You mean your husband?"_ Zeus asked, then frowned and narrowed his eyes as he failed to pierce the surprisingly strong mental walls about this one. Perhaps a shift in attack to a crushing weight instead...perhaps that would work, despite the added cost to himself. _ "No, that's not quite right, is it? Your...friend. And he's even more different than you are. What is he?"_

Donna winced as she felt the itch again, this time with a pressure build up in her head, and staggered a few steps backward, unsteady with the onslaught of new pain. "Stop it, or I swear the Doctor's gonna do for you!"

_"He's far too busy with Hera. Or Artemis, whichever one decided to play with him."_ He stalked closer to Donna and raised his hands again. _"Stop fighting and it won't hurt."_

"That's what you say to all the girls, innit?" Donna snapped, despite the pain, and squinted, then leaned into her anger at the nerve of these aliens using the town and its inhabitants like a really big bawdy-house, took a step forward and made a perfect kick. If she'd been on a footy-field, she'd have possibly made a goal with it - as it was, the seven-foot tall bloke calling himself Zeus made a very high-pitched, agonised keen and fell to the ground, where he promptly curled into a foetal ball around his severely damaged stones.

Donna nearly joined him on the floor as that scream resonated in her head just like his voice had. But as he trailed off into whimpers, the pain just...went away. So did the earlier pressure and the itching. She stood upright, dusted her hands, and snapped. "That's what you get for forcing yourself on helpless women!" Then she whirled about, stormed out the door she presumed she'd entered by, and went looking for the Doctor.

* * *

"Now ladies," The Doctor tried to smile as his arms were pulled backward and upward by the elbows, making it difficult to fight that blank-faced, controlled Greek lad. "You should have known someone would catch on to what you were doing here sooner or later. So why don't you just pack it up and leave, and I'll let you go with just a warning?"

_"You talk too much,"_ the woman who'd earlier identified herself as Hera said. _"Artemis, bind this...whatever he is. I'll control our toy to hold him."_

_"Of course, Hera," _Artemis replied and brought rope. But before she could get close enough to tie the Doctor's arms together, both women emitted a keening wail and collapsed, holding their heads.

The Doctor blinked in surprise as, not only did the two Suquerbi collapse, but so did the Greek chap holding his arms. "Huh. Well, I suppose I should find out what just happened, but first! Thanks for the rope, Artemis...or whatever your name actually is." He grinned and tied both females tightly together in such a way that neither could move without greatly discommoding the other, and he'd just stood up again, ready to look for his wayward companion when she barrelled through a door hidden behind a curtain and skidded to a halt.

"Doctor?" She stared at the room she'd stumbled into - she'd half-expected to have to find something to hit other glowy people with to rescue him, and here he'd gone and tied them up without her. Blasted Martian had probably been having fun while she'd been dealing with a grabby git and a headache. "Don't you think you could've done that a bit faster? Some idiot calling himself Zeus just tried to add me to the mythical list of conquests!"

"Er, actually I was in a bit of a spot until they just suddenly collapsed. How did you get away?" He started checking Donna over for bruises and other sorts of damage until she gently stopped his hands from roving over her.

"Watch those hands, skinnyboy. And how's any lucky woman get away from unwanted attention? I kicked 'im in the stones." She squeezed his hands and looked at the two tied-up women. "What are these lunatics, anyway? They're too big and glowy to be human."

He stared at her in astonishment, then a huge grin slowly spread across his face. "Oh, Donna Noble, you are magnificent! Of course! Suquerbi are psionically linked to each other when they're in such close proximity, so when you kicked Zeus, the rest of them collapsed in shared agony!"

"So...I actually put the boot in on four of these whatsits? And did you say succubi or did I hear wrong cos of this headache?" She rubbed at her head, and wondered why it was aching again. She hadn't felt it like this since Zeus had been poking around trying to get a grip on her again. And it was enough of an annoyance that she couldn't be bothered to snap at him for bleeping her with that screwdriver of his.

"Yep!" He toned down his volume when he saw her rub her head, and scanned her with the sonic. "Somehow you also fought off a psychic attack meant to overwhelm you and prevent you from resisting...we'll have to look into that later. Oh, and while I didn't say succubi, the Suquerbi are the source of the legends of the succubi and incubi. Not the nicest of people, especially when they get carried away and kill the people they're feeding on."

"Lots later - like after we deal with these...Suquerbi, you said?" She gave him a wan smile. "I didn't stop to tie Zeus up, and I guess Apollo was occupied with that poor girl till he got the boot in...we're gonna have trouble as soon as they can think again."

He gave her a crooked grin, and was about to give her a comforting hug when Hera and Artemis stopped their pained moaning. "Looks like we're going to have company in a minute." And he stepped in front of Donna as the door she'd barged in by was slammed open again. "Zeus and Apollo, I presume? Hallo! I'm the Doctor!"

He was answered with a roar of sheer fury from the two male Suquerbi, a blast of psychic assault against his defences, and the sound of Donna collapsing behind him.

* * *

Hammers. It felt like hammers pounding away at her head, and all she could think of was trying to push them away - until suddenly the pounding stopped. And she told herself she only didn't open her eyes cos she recognised the sound of the Doctor's voice, but really, she just hurt too much. Maybe she shouldn't have been quite so smug about putting the boot in, cos it felt like Zeus had taken his boot to her head in revenge. Well, sandal, same difference.

Though, as she managed to start focusing through the pain, she thought she ought to at least try and open her eyes. She probably had to stop the Doctor, cos now he was sounding colder than he'd been when he killed the Racnoss. But even though the excruciating agony of the constant pounding was gone, her head still bloody well hurt, and the light was bright enough to shine through her eyelids and make new little bits of stabbing agony. She groaned because of it, and was heartened a bit by the slight shift in the Doctor's voice.

"You all right there, Donna?"

"No. Feel like my brain's been gone at with a meat-tenderiser." She covered her eyes with her hand and slowly cracked them open. Dimmer light she could deal with - now to see what sitting up felt like. "Oh bugger," she moaned as her other hand flew to her mouth. Sitting up was Bad - felt like she was going to throw up any second now.

"Easy there, Donna, I've got you," came the reply. Odd, how he could sound so threatening just a minute ago, and yet now he was practically oozing safety. And his arms supporting her just reinforced it. "It'll be all right soon, just lie back down and relax."

"Love to, Spaceman. But...what're you going to do? To the Suquerbi?" She squinted so she could drop her hand and actually look at that nutter of a friend of hers, and the nausea somehow managed to be overwhelmed by the ice now taking up residence in her stomach, echoed by a stab of icy pain in her head. His voice might have been all sorts of reassuring, but his eyes - they were just like when he'd been killing the Racnoss. Cold and alien, and full of rage and fire and death.

"Something you don't need to worry about, Donna. They nearly killed you - you just lie back down and try to rest till I can get you back to the TARDIS." He turned his head away from her then, to scowl into the brighter part of the room.

She guessed from the feel of it that he was glaring at the Suquerbi, and reached for his arm and held on tight to him even though it felt like she was moving through treacle and couldn't hold a string. She had to stop him, she couldn't let him do it all over again. "Not if you're killing them, mate," she mumbled. "...gotta stop you from doing that...promised you I'd stop you..."

When he looked at her again, she was more relieved than she could say to see that pain and concern and worry were outweighing that scary part of him. And even better, the new icy pain had gone away, leaving regular old screaming agony behind. "Donna, they've got to be stopped before they eat this entire town! They've already eaten all the priestesses and eight other people!"

"...yeah, I get that..." She swallowed, feeling the nausea overwhelming the ice again. "...but...you can...stop'em without...killing them...so you'd better do it...hear me, Martian boy?"

"I hear you, Donna Noble," The faintest of smiles curled his lips, and he brushed his fingertips over her eyelids, easing them closed. "I promise, no killing unless they force me to. Now, sleep."

"...bossy spaceman..." she mumbled through lips that felt numb with exhaustion. She sighed when he eased her down and draped his coat over her, then nestled in and drifted. Not really sleeping, but not quite awake - she hurt too much for sleep just this moment. Besides, she had to listen and make sure he wasn't gonna kill'em after all...

"You're the bossy one, Earthgirl." The Doctor turned away from his hopefully sleeping but probably unconscious friend and carefully tucked away his surprised awe at just how determined she was to keep him from walking down dark roads. He had four hostile aliens to deal with and couldn't spare the time right then to properly appreciate that precious treasure. Fortunately they were all tied up, and at least Donna had missed the worst part - he'd very nearly burnt out their brains in his fury at their assault on her, and only the fact she'd still been alive had kept him from fully releasing the Oncoming Storm and becoming the Destroyer again before she'd had the chance to wake up.

"You lot had best count yourselves lucky that one of your victims spoke for you," He glared at them, and firmly squashed the sliver of dark delight at seeing three of them cringe away from his anger in something close to terror. If he let _that_ run free, he'd end up tormenting and killing them despite his promise to Donna.

"Now, what would be best to do with you? Obviously getting you out of Greece and off this planet, but how to keep you from coming back?" And in a way that wouldn't suggest to Donna that even she wasn't enough to stop him when he needed it?

_"You won't be able to stop us without killing us,"_ Zeus said with a sneer, though there was fairly well-hidden fear in his eyes to match his three companions' rather more obvious terror. _"Our ship is capable of stealth such that not even Daleks could find it. Were we to choose to come back, you'd never even know."_

"Oh, I'd know." He couldn't resist a smirk at the brilliant idea that had sprung to life in his mind the moment Zeus had mentioned their ship. "But...that's the best part, y'see. I won't _need_ to know. Now, since you lot are all tied up, I'm sure you won't be going anywhere until I'm done, will you?"

He ignored the snarls and bravado-spawned threats from Zeus and Apollo, and gently scooped the unconscious Donna into his arms. Just in case they _could_ get loose, he wasn't going to leave her where they could get at her. He hated hostage situations and wasn't going to let his own idiocy create another one.

* * *

Some unknown amount of time later, Donna woke up in the medbay and squinted against the bright light. It wasn't stabbing right into her brain like the last time she'd woken up, but it was annoying. So she made a face at the fact that it tasted like a mouse had died in her mouth, then muttered after a minute's worth of attempts, "...turn down the lights, trying to sleep here."

"Oh, you're awake!" came the far-too-cheerful - or was it relieved? - reply, but at least the lights went down some. Enough so she could open her eyes and see that for all the cheer in his voice, that Spaceman of hers looked far too tired to be doing much of anything energetic. "Feeling better, Donna?"

"Eh. Don't hurt anymore, but I still feel like I could sleep for a week." She let him do all sorts of scanning-type things without a protest, and missed his concerned look because she was busy yawning. "You look like you could use some rest too, Doctor," she continued when she opened her eyes again.

"Yeah, well, been a bit busy. Sending the Suquerbi off, getting Stymphalos through withdrawal, fixing you up..." He trailed off in a yawn, then gave her a relieved smile. "I'm so very glad to see you awake again, Donna."

"Kinda hard to keep me down, innit?" She gave him a tired smile and forced herself upright. "Could do with my own bed though - this'un's murder on my back." She narrowed her eyes as she forced herself to focus on him, and frowned. "By 'sending them off', you don't mean...you didn't kill them, did you?"

"The Suquerbi? Nope!" He grinned and helped her down from the bed, then supported her while she found out her knees didn't want to do much standing without a lot of practice. "Whoops, bit wobbly there, aren't you?"

"Doctor," She glared at him, though it wasn't one of her better ones. Probably looked like an angry kitten from the outside. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Hm? Oh, I reprogrammed their navigational computer with a bit of a virus. Only place they could go from Earth was back to their homeworld, and when the virus spreads to the other ships, which it will because I designed it that way, the Suquerbi won't be able to come back until the thirteen-hundreds or so. When they're supposed to be part of the myths and legends of Earth." He smiled reassuringly at her as he kept holding her vertical until her legs would properly hold her up.

"And that's all you did? Really?" She gave him a sceptical look, but let him take most of her weight so they could walk out of the medbay and across the hall to where the TARDIS had moved the kitchen. "And why are we going to the kitchen when all I want's my bed?"

"Yup, that's really all I did. Well, and read them a lecture that they weren't paying a bit of attention to...but that's all, really, I promise!"

Her other question he didn't answer until he'd got her sat at the table. "Donna...you were unconscious for...quite a while. They'd done actual damage to your brain, and..." He swallowed hard and forced himself to give her as best a smile as he could. "Well, anyway, I fixed up the damage, but when you're feeling better we're going to have to talk about the after-effects."

"Brain damage?" Donna's eyes got huge, and she missed his reassurances because of the sudden upwelling of panic. "What kind of damage and after-effects are we talking about here? I'm not gonna have a stroke, am I? Or cancer? Oh my God, it's not going to be like a lobotomy, is it?"

"No, no, no, no, no. No stroke, no cancer and if you listened to yourself you'd know it was nothing like a lobotomy." He patted her hand, then went over to the hob where there was a pot of soup gently steaming. "It's just...there are always after-effects from psychic assaults."

The Doctor sighed as he ladled up a bowlful and brought it back to Donna. "And it all ties back into what I'd wanted to check up on, before the onslaught that almost..." He swallowed, then continued in a near-whisper. "...killed you."

"You mean how I was able to fight through or block off a single Suquerbi's attack? Yeah, I remember that. Didn't you go investigating that though, when I was all unconscious?" She warily sipped at the soup, then made an appreciative 'mmm' noise and started eating. It was really good, and she was starving!

"Slowly, Donna, don't want to stress your system. You haven't had anything like food for...a while." He waited until she'd slowed down, then sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah. That. You survived the assault because you'd already survived similar, though much less intense invasions. You were apparently quite telepathic as a child, and you'd walled it off so thoroughly that it took a sledgehammer to break it open again. Metaphorically, though they did attack like they were wielding psychic sledgehammers."

Her spoon halted in mid-motion, and she gawped at him until she heard him say without moving his mouth, _Flies, Donna._ "But that...that's impossible!" She squawked as shock-numbed fingers let her spoon fall into her bowl with a splash. "I'm nothing special, just a temp who's taking time to travel with a friend! And how could I be telepathic and not know it? And what about the brain damage? Wouldn't that mean the telepathic part was burnt out, or destroyed, or something? I mean, if I was, which I'm not!"

He winced at the unintentional onslaught of the panic under her words, and he captured her flailing hand and shook it to get her to look at him. "Donna, I can't change it. You heard me...and I got quite a jolt from you too, just then. You're rather strongly telepathic for a human, and whatever happened to you as a child to make you need to block it off somehow had physical effects as well as mental."

He sighed and gently squeezed her hand. "That was the damage I was talking about, and it's partly my fault for not checking to see if the huon particles had left subtle side-effects behind. The area of your brain where psychic talent is centred had overly-thick myelin sheathes - that's the insulation on the neurons that connect brain cells - and the combination of the assaults, along with the residual radiation of the huon particles, stripped away that insulation. Completely."

He swallowed hard and took his hand off hers to run through his hair again. "When you woke up the second time after the assault, I was so afraid you were going to go insane just from you picking up me and the TARDIS and not being able to block us. I...I had to keep you in stasis while I looked for the reason, and then the solution."

He sighed and gave her a sad look. "And...I...didn't want to upset you earlier, so I fudged the time a bit. It's actually been four months since that trip to Stymphalos and dealing with the Suquerbi. I had to spend quite a lot of that time going to the best neuropaths and surgeons and scientists in all of time and space just to figure out how to regrow the myelin sheathes to their proper thickness. And then I had to place shielding in the medbay to protect you from me and the TARDIS while they grew back."

Donna paled, and her soup may as well have been across the room for all the attention she paid to it. "But...why are you telling me all this now? And anyway, I still don't feel psychic." _If I deny it enough, maybe it'll go away..._

He made a ghastly attempt at a smile, then sighed and slouched over the table. "Because you'd catch on sooner or later that I'd not been completely honest. And because you can't just ignore it...I don't think it'll go away again. Not the way you made it do the last time, anyway - you're not a child anymore, and those myelin sheathes won't just grow to be ultra-thick again."

"Stop it!" She shouted, panicked that he was replying to something she hadn't said out loud, and tried to bolt out of her chair only to collapse as her knees decided they didn't want to work right. "I told you once already! Stay out of my head!"

"I wasn't in your head, Donna. You were broadcasting that thought so loudly that a normal, non-psychic person could almost hear it."

He sighed and forced himself to stay put, even though he desperately wanted to go take Donna in his arms and reassure her that everything would be all right. "I can work with you to control it, so that you can block or be open to send and receive thoughts as you please, but I can't make it go away again. I'm sorry, so, so very, very sorry...I never wanted you to go through anything like this..."

"I don't want it!" She was crying now, tears rolling down her face. "I don't want to hear every little thought...like you said, it's nothing but trouble!" Donna curled into a ball, afraid and ashamed, wanting to ask for a hug, but hating herself for needing one. And she was afraid of the potential hug as well. What would she hear if he touched her again?

"It can seem like that, yeah," He sighed and reinforced his mental shields because he couldn't withhold any comfort he could offer his distraught friend, then slid to the floor and pulled the Donna-ball into his lap, stroking her hair with one hand.

"You're safe with me and the TARDIS though...I've got enough discipline to keep you from hearing my thoughts, the Old Girl can help you filter too. And if you're willing to learn, you'll pick up how to shut it all out soon enough. I promise."

He gave her a sad smile when she reluctantly uncurled, then hugged her closer and continued running his fingers through her hair as she wept on his shoulder. "We'll get through this, Donna. I promise you, you can do it. And I'll be right beside you every step of the way."

* * *

Ending AN: Yes, the Suquerbi got off really lightly for what they did to the town and Donna. But she'd asked him not to kill them...so he did the next best thing. Although if he'd known the real damage done to her before sending them off...

And yeah, Donna's telepathic, the idea is too much fun to -not- play with...but as much fun as it is to have her instantly accept it, I think this reaction was more true to an early-days Donna. As for the Huon particles being responsible for the erosion of the neural insulation...well, other than their being deadly, who knows what they could do, especially with residual radiation left behind? Don't mind me nattering on, I had to find a DW-believable reason for it to happen :)


End file.
